Video index

1. Call Meeting to Order

703

2. Roll Call

Roll call (10 Present, 0 Absent, 0 Excused)

3. Public Participation [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed thirty (30) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of the majority of the Town Council.]

Robert Dickinson, 19 Birch Road - I wish to express thanks to the Council and staff for the good progress we have made so far in making walking and biking safer so far. Glad to see this gaining momentum. Mike Sullivan, 24 Jared Court - in your last mtg. there was discussion what might be the average tax increase. I don't think anyone has presented that to the public. What that effect might have on the average folks. Town Manager gave copy to him. Just came out of the capital projects meeting and I was glad to participate in that. I would like answer - if the town is going to find an altrnative way to finance capital projects - better financing options can be obtained. am uncomfortable if these itemks need to go to voters. have heard talk about 501C3, 63-20's - my reading of the charter and the liminations of the Town Council seems to me tht when you look at financing mechanism can we get a legal opinion from the Town ATtorney can the town entertain these items or just go into leases. I would like to see a resolution come forward tht if the Town Council is going to finance another direction that the voters could or should have a say in the matter. that needs to be understood. your charter says taking out notes is a form of indebtedness. Kevin Foley, 498 Main Street - read in the JI last night. Like the comments made of moving the town forward. I know no one wants larger taxes but the town needs to move forward. It is time to move forward. All I keep hearing is how much it is going to cost the town. What is it going to cost me, how much of an impact - if something like 30.00 per month. it is a bold decision but needs to be done. there are 27,000 people in town - build the town for our kids. lets get some things done and keep our property values up. Bob Goldman - I would echo that 100%. my parents moved here in 1972 and there were some very nice schools. The lack of investment that I have seen is not good. I don't know why other young families would want to move to SW unless we are willing to make the Town better. from an investment perspective now is the right time. please make this town what it was and what it can be. Craig Zimmerman, 5A Amato Drive, echo what people have just said. 1965 or 1966 parents moved here. I was the first people who went to the hgih school and that has been improved slightly. Everything we had in the 60's has been about the same as we have here. Neighboring Towns were able to figure out how to get additional facilities. there are towns half our size that have facilities that we can not imagine. we would like to get something done. there should be a way to fund some items. send message that we are going to try to do something. Steve, 135 Ridger Road - since moving to SW we have been very satisfied with the services. one area falling short is the facilities and fields. the hgih school football field needs to be improved. the proposal before the council would help South WIndsor. this is an area that we have fallen behind.

4. Communications

McCann - couple of nights ago made statements about tax increases and did not have the numbers with me to share. thorugh revaluation the grand list decline about 11% from last year to this year. 1.2% in the developed properties that were added. Existing properties declined 12% from last year. if you want to compare 200,000 assess value that is 88% of the value of the same property the prior year. the assessed value 227, - if you apply last years mil rate to that assessment 668.64 - moving forward to this year with TM proposal 35.05 out of 200,000 property 7,010 taxes increase 4.8%. if you apply a mill rate of 35.33% the same property would have taxes 7,066 an increase of 56.00. the way that that effects most people is through the escrow of their mortgage - the difference between the requested amout of the TM and amount put on the table would be a difference of 4.00 - note that 45% of increase 2.10 would be for putting the town on a more fiscally sound footing by reducing the use of fund balance and by increasing the funidng of pension fund which has fallen behind. The reason for increasing the tangilbe assets of the town would be to make the town more attractive. way to make sw more affordable is to increase our grand list. if you increase the grand list you reduce the burden across the town. in 1983 the mill rate was 56.10. historically we are not looking at a huge mill rate. how did we get down in the mill rate by expanding our grand list, we have increased the value of properties in our town. to continue to do that we need to invest in our town. make sw desirable place for people to come and prosper. many question whether this is the right time to add taxes - we are not taling about a great deal but will bring tangible items to town. fiscally this is the right time to do this. when you invest you don't invest hight o watch invesmtne go down in value. you want to invest when rates are low. turning point in economy that allows us to take advantage of low costs for the improvements thathave been discussed and low cost of finanicng. we have opportunityt o make investments now. stretch out the payments over several years but lock in those costs right now. now is the right time to do it. that is why we have come up with suggestions to improve South Windsor. A lot of the increase comes from items that are out of our control such as the sewer treatment plant, health care costs, - heard we should look to reduce the town manager's propsoal by $1M but do not know where you will get that type of savings in the TM's budget. There will be a signiicant incease in taxes this year. 4.8% is the TM - the future of this town should be focused on. Yagaloff - After the last mtg went back and looked at the calculations. Matt provided us with more information tonight. I received communcations from a lot of people. I thought SW was a great Town. I have been hearing tremendous praise about SW. I caluclated the mill rate with the proposal on Monday. Automobile values have gone up which means everyone taxes will go up 20%. with this current budget everyone can figure a 20% increase. Personal property values have not gone down so every business's personal property will go up 20% because the mill rate is going up 20%. the shift in the grand list in the property values has shifted in the commercial properties. it is hard to estimate what the effect will be on business. with 20% increase in the mill rate - with 8% reduction with result in 12% increase. This current budget will cause an average increase by 12%. The 8% number that is floating around - people need to look at their own tax bills. my house did not go down the average so my taxes are automatically goin gup. my business was average so that should not be effected by the revaluation. 10-12% on home increase - 8% busienss increase. I thought the town was doing great. the calls I am getting is they are saying that this is unprecedented, when did this type of thing ever happen before and I can't give them an answer. communities around us and none of the towns are approaching what SW is proposing here. how can someone expect in one year to be facing tax increase of 8-10% - and in a revaluation year 20% and how can people expect autos to go up 20%. I think we have complete control over the budget. in January there was a freeze and this council added staff to the budget. At the time I did not understand how we did that. My feeling is I was more than willing to put funds into the school system and economy should not be depriving the children. I support fire, police but beyond these services I don't understand how we can have these large increases. Delnicki - recognize the folks who were recipients of Eugene P - Ed Havens, Maureen and Hap Fitts. Student aware to Emma - today attended the CCM Emergency Management - there is a state police audit committe tream that for free of charge will do an audit for school free of charge. also sent email to everyoen about paving projects. ran into the TM of Avon - Matt please distribute to the Council. There was a comment when we were getting into the Animal Shelter and what is E. Hartford =going to do for us, talked to someone from E. Hartford and he is more than willing to help with the CERC Team. they are saying CT will continue to be hit with hurricanes. hope they are wrong. all in all it was a productive day.

5. Town Manager's Report [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed ten (10) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of the majority of the Council.]

have 4 union negotiation going on

6. Items for Discussion

A. General Government Budget

Galligan - one of the problem when looking at revaluation - mill rate goes up - higher taxes on real property - took house of 300,000 there will be some people that will not be effected at all. my taxes are going up 15%. when you do this you take house of 300,000. REally need to go to the Assessors Office and apply the rate.

Anwar - we need to decide on priorities. People need to get to fields - roads need to be maintained. People have not come out to voice their minds because they do not want to get bullied. People need to come out. We need a strategic plan which should be followed. we are trying to be everything to everyone. Priorities need to be set. Represent everyone in town not just your friends.

Bazzano - I do think we need a plan with all projects going forward. This is the beginning of a plan - taking a vision and making is a reality for all. improvements are being made for all. we as a town have to think about what we want for SW. No one ever said the fields are horrible, some are still horrible but most of the fields have gotten a lot better but it has not solved the over use of fields. We work hard trying to make everything better for everyone. if the town does not do their part to make things better then property values will go down. we need to keep up with things and need to improve items. the realator does not talk about the new sewer plant, they will talk about new facilities, new fields. we need to improve the items that are most used in SW. Doing things today is really the time to things. I would rather pay a little today then pay a lot more in five years. not doing the projects when the time is right to do projects cheaper is the right time for the taxpayers. I think we need to get to the budget and talk about the proposed items. the capital project plan is the way to get things done in town. the total value of capital projets? Jan - 5M Bazzano - we can put 5M in budget or we can finance at 3% rate for 287,000 per year. it is about what it is going to cost me as a taxpayer. I want to know if it is going to cost me $20.00 more, $30.00, etc. spread sheet you gave on revaluations and did quick calculation, by taxes go up 7.77% that is another 65.00 per month. So I look at going to get items. there is a benefit. break it down t the dollar amount it is going to cost you.

Yagaloff - when you go to a Car Dealership and they say you can get the car for 199.00 per month but don't worry about what it is going to cost you. This is a like a credit card - we are going to borrow and pay back over the next 10 years. What happens if you do that often enough you will use your credit and then you have to wait 10 years from now to buy something. up front you have to be concerned how much you are spending. This council is not the average person. we have mostly professional up here. this council does not represent our communtity but we represent the community. the problem with doing snap shots does not show what is happening in peoples lives - lower value homes did not go down in value - if you go to the larger homes the property values have gone down in price. the people that are going to get hurt are seniors and families in smaller homes, the priority is education, police, fire then go to municipal services. roads and trash, recreation programs, seior programs. we need to take care of education first and then police and fire. the concept of we are not gong to worry about how much we spend, tell that to seniors, young families - tell it to young people who are just out of college. I want ot have discussion about the dollars that this budget is spending. Plea to back off additional projects so we can mitigate against large increase.

Snyder - process - everyone speaking but do not see anything of substance. What is the process of moving forward. Delnicki - people have the right to say what they want in this budget. we have already allowed both view points on this budet process. I am not going to stop people from talking about their feelings. When we get to the next item we will talk about amendments. Jan - so we are going to have some type sof recommendations Delnicki - the amount of calls I have received and emails - there is an uproar in this community. I have heard from people who have pulled their card to find out how much they are going to pay in taxes and there is an uproar. also hearing folks saying why are we short changing the communtiy and saying it is so bad. the people who are having a hard time are the ones being left out of the equation. i have heard from folks who are afraid to come forward.

McCann - we have had some good comments but have not focused on the numbers. With the quality of this town, this is a good town. i want to continue to live in this town but i want it to be a better town then it is today. we can not just maintain we need to improve. types of houses that suffer are the lower reduction - do not think we can talk in generalities. South Windsor is not doing badly but we want it to do better. we have osught to enhance the nontax revenues by some modest measures. we are happy to have discussions. i have not seen any alternatives put on the table. i have heard we should cut 1M, how? we need to have these discussions. lets hear the alternatives. lets get this budget done and focus on the specifics of what the budget will be.

Havens - most people are not interested in anything we are talking about. they are interested in the bottom line. additions to the budget sould be brought back tot he voters. there have been no imporvements to the town - there have been a lot done in this town. lets bring the improvements back to the voters. if you want to make improvements in town it should be brought to the taxpayers. what we can't affford this year lets look at next year. lets make a plan. any major improvements should be decided by the public.

Beaulieu - we need to focus on the general government budget. the last several years there have been small increases. we need to maintain the town and bring it forward. we have run status quo - we have had to bond roof and kitchen floors. the town is a great town however if we continue to run the town the way the budgets have done we will not move forward. if we kick the can down the road then shame on us. I don't know when it is going to get cheaper. we are looking at a large tax increase. the additional items that have been put on the table are items that have been talked about for years. money is cheaper at this time and don't understand why we would not talk about. we do need a plan and address items the best we can. if we don't do these things and go through another revaluation we are going to have property values go down further. we need to protect taxpayers. by moving forward that will help the property values.

Anwar - we need to take care of pension - the amount of dollars should come down but we should start taking care of that. should also make sure take care of personnel for police department. these items are support. the other items can be reviewed next year. the capital projects have items that should be addressed. Willing to have more conversation regarding computers. the fiber optic I am hesitant which I do not feel is a prioroty this year. funding for public works is critical. expanding the grand list the burden of the community starts to decrease. some things should get done at a certain time.

Prague - we have done everything we can for the last 6 years to keep taxes down. the magic is gone and this year we are going to have to have a substantial tax increase but it is not if you consider the last 6 years. the average business is down 11.2%. Fiber optic should be postponed. we invested a lot in education this year. hoping to have surpluses and population still down. eventually we have to say no to more stff in our schools and I am also saying we have to start salaries lower. need to meet in the middle for the budget.

Yagaloff - do generators and have them bonded out. 1.5M capital projects instead of 5M - break down into pieces. save 120,000 - strip out proposed spending increases - on the fields project can go ahead as planned. that project iwll not be paid for in this next years budget. move forward with 6320 or 501C3, revenue adjustments-keep, go back to the fund balance as planned, come back 4% tax increase, right now at 6%, 2/3rd of capital - go back to your budget and take few hundred thousand in cuts. show us what 4% increase would look like. keep capped at 4% and then make decisions off of that. right now over 6% - thik can do the field project - will support capital approach 1.5million - if that approach works then we can continue it. would be willing to support everything everyone said

Bazzano - we have addressed a lot of prioritie sin this budget. additional items put into the budget are 800,000 - what you would get for that modest amount per month you are getting a lot more. Galligan - 1.6M in cuts - garbage is 1.9M - will be looking at services Yagaloff 1.6M - 800,000 - 200,000 - look at budget with 600,000 in cuts. we have two new hires and there will be third. Galligan - did a budget for you, look at what you have done to the Town budget. Yagaloff - if you took 6.08 and put in revenue - capital bonding to - 5.08% nd another .25% 4.76% - not making any cuts drives the budget 4.75%. Galligan - you are using fund balance. I can do it. Bazzano - you mentioned bonidng but think you meant leasing. 4% Yagaloff - asking the manager to go from 4.75% ato 4%. Bazzano - the fields I do not know when it is going to happen. Yagaloff - contingency Galligan 115,000 Yagaloff - LoCIP funds - were they used for fields? Galligan - you have to find expenditure in your current budget - they are cutting the manufacturers equipment - Yagaloff - the superintendent of schools just informed us that she will not need funds from LoCIP for school safety. could use for fields Bazzano - my isue is that for the amount of monety that we are talking about you are gettign alot for your monye. Additinal items is a small cost. Delnicki - feel like I am sitting in the car dealership. we need a policy on leases. we are taliking about what normally would be bonded - i would support gong to referendum on the field - when i look at the fact when we are looking at that much money in leasing

McCann - glad to have discussion on specific items. I woul dlike to see 4% increase but that is not going to happen. we have an increase from the BOE 2.6 M - I would like to see real numbers be brought forward instead of requiring the manager to come up with numbers. 4% cap would be 1.6 million dollars in cuts. revenue projections still 1.3m in cuts - pension needs to be done. look forward to look at real numbers.

Yagaloff - may get some funds for the turf field because the plan has to be done first. high 4% if do what I ased previously. Town Manager needs to go forward and cut the budget to get to 4% increase. Galligan - 34.37 will be tax rate - 16% tax increase - Yagaloff - the goal is to mitigate the tax increase. Galligan - you have an obligation with the BOE budget. Yagaloff - send you back matt and find what you can and tell us where it is goong to hurt us- we have obligation to try to tr to mitgate budget Galligna - when your budget gets this tight you will be going back to the taxpayer for more money. Delnicki - please come up with those numbers. Bazzano - address comment about BOE budget - the reason I wanted that done is so we could concentrate on town budget. we have no intention to cut your budet. Leasing is a great alternative for the Town to use and it makes sense. Anwar - thanked the tm and staff who have worked hard to do their job at the most min. cost. like leasing for computrs - after budget we need to come up with policy regarding leases. Snyder - having gone through the budget - I thought the budget we compehensive and people being at a 0% other than public works. do not think the budvget shoudl be reduced any more. should not take money out of fund balance. this budget maintains the level of service. When I approved BOE budget I knew I would be supporting he Town budget. concerned with cuts what service will not be provided. it will take a long time Beaulieu - I have no interest in looking at ways to cut your budget. capital projects need to be done. will not support budget that uses fund balance and cuts other services - fiscally irresponsible.

Public David Joy - we were dealt a crummy hand this year - we need to move sw up a little bit. I am glad that the council decides on the budget. hope you find the right balance. should fund TM budget in full. to reduce what matt has asked for would be a disservice. Mary Sullivan, 102 Wyndemere Court - specific topic is the proposed fields - we have been given the argument that the town needs to keep up and have more desirable place for new people. should provide for people who have been here for a long time. suggest that financing for these fields. - Kevin Greer - Windshire Drive - should move forward - should keep property values high - Tc needs to do what is right

B. Proposed Amendments to the General Government Budget

7. Executive Session

8. Adjournment

Bazzano - noticed next week Monday 7 p.m. and Tuesday 8p.m Bazzzano, McCann, unanimous. 10:00 p.m.

May 08, 2013 Town Council Special Budget Work Session

Full agenda
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1. Call Meeting to Order

703

2. Roll Call

Roll call (10 Present, 0 Absent, 0 Excused)

3. Public Participation [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed thirty (30) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of the majority of the Town Council.]

Robert Dickinson, 19 Birch Road - I wish to express thanks to the Council and staff for the good progress we have made so far in making walking and biking safer so far. Glad to see this gaining momentum. Mike Sullivan, 24 Jared Court - in your last mtg. there was discussion what might be the average tax increase. I don't think anyone has presented that to the public. What that effect might have on the average folks. Town Manager gave copy to him. Just came out of the capital projects meeting and I was glad to participate in that. I would like answer - if the town is going to find an altrnative way to finance capital projects - better financing options can be obtained. am uncomfortable if these itemks need to go to voters. have heard talk about 501C3, 63-20's - my reading of the charter and the liminations of the Town Council seems to me tht when you look at financing mechanism can we get a legal opinion from the Town ATtorney can the town entertain these items or just go into leases. I would like to see a resolution come forward tht if the Town Council is going to finance another direction that the voters could or should have a say in the matter. that needs to be understood. your charter says taking out notes is a form of indebtedness. Kevin Foley, 498 Main Street - read in the JI last night. Like the comments made of moving the town forward. I know no one wants larger taxes but the town needs to move forward. It is time to move forward. All I keep hearing is how much it is going to cost the town. What is it going to cost me, how much of an impact - if something like 30.00 per month. it is a bold decision but needs to be done. there are 27,000 people in town - build the town for our kids. lets get some things done and keep our property values up. Bob Goldman - I would echo that 100%. my parents moved here in 1972 and there were some very nice schools. The lack of investment that I have seen is not good. I don't know why other young families would want to move to SW unless we are willing to make the Town better. from an investment perspective now is the right time. please make this town what it was and what it can be. Craig Zimmerman, 5A Amato Drive, echo what people have just said. 1965 or 1966 parents moved here. I was the first people who went to the hgih school and that has been improved slightly. Everything we had in the 60's has been about the same as we have here. Neighboring Towns were able to figure out how to get additional facilities. there are towns half our size that have facilities that we can not imagine. we would like to get something done. there should be a way to fund some items. send message that we are going to try to do something. Steve, 135 Ridger Road - since moving to SW we have been very satisfied with the services. one area falling short is the facilities and fields. the hgih school football field needs to be improved. the proposal before the council would help South WIndsor. this is an area that we have fallen behind.

4. Communications

McCann - couple of nights ago made statements about tax increases and did not have the numbers with me to share. thorugh revaluation the grand list decline about 11% from last year to this year. 1.2% in the developed properties that were added. Existing properties declined 12% from last year. if you want to compare 200,000 assess value that is 88% of the value of the same property the prior year. the assessed value 227, - if you apply last years mil rate to that assessment 668.64 - moving forward to this year with TM proposal 35.05 out of 200,000 property 7,010 taxes increase 4.8%. if you apply a mill rate of 35.33% the same property would have taxes 7,066 an increase of 56.00. the way that that effects most people is through the escrow of their mortgage - the difference between the requested amout of the TM and amount put on the table would be a difference of 4.00 - note that 45% of increase 2.10 would be for putting the town on a more fiscally sound footing by reducing the use of fund balance and by increasing the funidng of pension fund which has fallen behind. The reason for increasing the tangilbe assets of the town would be to make the town more attractive. way to make sw more affordable is to increase our grand list. if you increase the grand list you reduce the burden across the town. in 1983 the mill rate was 56.10. historically we are not looking at a huge mill rate. how did we get down in the mill rate by expanding our grand list, we have increased the value of properties in our town. to continue to do that we need to invest in our town. make sw desirable place for people to come and prosper. many question whether this is the right time to add taxes - we are not taling about a great deal but will bring tangible items to town. fiscally this is the right time to do this. when you invest you don't invest hight o watch invesmtne go down in value. you want to invest when rates are low. turning point in economy that allows us to take advantage of low costs for the improvements thathave been discussed and low cost of finanicng. we have opportunityt o make investments now. stretch out the payments over several years but lock in those costs right now. now is the right time to do it. that is why we have come up with suggestions to improve South Windsor. A lot of the increase comes from items that are out of our control such as the sewer treatment plant, health care costs, - heard we should look to reduce the town manager's propsoal by $1M but do not know where you will get that type of savings in the TM's budget. There will be a signiicant incease in taxes this year. 4.8% is the TM - the future of this town should be focused on. Yagaloff - After the last mtg went back and looked at the calculations. Matt provided us with more information tonight. I received communcations from a lot of people. I thought SW was a great Town. I have been hearing tremendous praise about SW. I caluclated the mill rate with the proposal on Monday. Automobile values have gone up which means everyone taxes will go up 20%. with this current budget everyone can figure a 20% increase. Personal property values have not gone down so every business's personal property will go up 20% because the mill rate is going up 20%. the shift in the grand list in the property values has shifted in the commercial properties. it is hard to estimate what the effect will be on business. with 20% increase in the mill rate - with 8% reduction with result in 12% increase. This current budget will cause an average increase by 12%. The 8% number that is floating around - people need to look at their own tax bills. my house did not go down the average so my taxes are automatically goin gup. my business was average so that should not be effected by the revaluation. 10-12% on home increase - 8% busienss increase. I thought the town was doing great. the calls I am getting is they are saying that this is unprecedented, when did this type of thing ever happen before and I can't give them an answer. communities around us and none of the towns are approaching what SW is proposing here. how can someone expect in one year to be facing tax increase of 8-10% - and in a revaluation year 20% and how can people expect autos to go up 20%. I think we have complete control over the budget. in January there was a freeze and this council added staff to the budget. At the time I did not understand how we did that. My feeling is I was more than willing to put funds into the school system and economy should not be depriving the children. I support fire, police but beyond these services I don't understand how we can have these large increases. Delnicki - recognize the folks who were recipients of Eugene P - Ed Havens, Maureen and Hap Fitts. Student aware to Emma - today attended the CCM Emergency Management - there is a state police audit committe tream that for free of charge will do an audit for school free of charge. also sent email to everyoen about paving projects. ran into the TM of Avon - Matt please distribute to the Council. There was a comment when we were getting into the Animal Shelter and what is E. Hartford =going to do for us, talked to someone from E. Hartford and he is more than willing to help with the CERC Team. they are saying CT will continue to be hit with hurricanes. hope they are wrong. all in all it was a productive day.

5. Town Manager's Report [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed ten (10) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of the majority of the Council.]

have 4 union negotiation going on

6. Items for Discussion

A. General Government Budget

Galligan - one of the problem when looking at revaluation - mill rate goes up - higher taxes on real property - took house of 300,000 there will be some people that will not be effected at all. my taxes are going up 15%. when you do this you take house of 300,000. REally need to go to the Assessors Office and apply the rate.

Anwar - we need to decide on priorities. People need to get to fields - roads need to be maintained. People have not come out to voice their minds because they do not want to get bullied. People need to come out. We need a strategic plan which should be followed. we are trying to be everything to everyone. Priorities need to be set. Represent everyone in town not just your friends.

Bazzano - I do think we need a plan with all projects going forward. This is the beginning of a plan - taking a vision and making is a reality for all. improvements are being made for all. we as a town have to think about what we want for SW. No one ever said the fields are horrible, some are still horrible but most of the fields have gotten a lot better but it has not solved the over use of fields. We work hard trying to make everything better for everyone. if the town does not do their part to make things better then property values will go down. we need to keep up with things and need to improve items. the realator does not talk about the new sewer plant, they will talk about new facilities, new fields. we need to improve the items that are most used in SW. Doing things today is really the time to things. I would rather pay a little today then pay a lot more in five years. not doing the projects when the time is right to do projects cheaper is the right time for the taxpayers. I think we need to get to the budget and talk about the proposed items. the capital project plan is the way to get things done in town. the total value of capital projets? Jan - 5M Bazzano - we can put 5M in budget or we can finance at 3% rate for 287,000 per year. it is about what it is going to cost me as a taxpayer. I want to know if it is going to cost me $20.00 more, $30.00, etc. spread sheet you gave on revaluations and did quick calculation, by taxes go up 7.77% that is another 65.00 per month. So I look at going to get items. there is a benefit. break it down t the dollar amount it is going to cost you.

Yagaloff - when you go to a Car Dealership and they say you can get the car for 199.00 per month but don't worry about what it is going to cost you. This is a like a credit card - we are going to borrow and pay back over the next 10 years. What happens if you do that often enough you will use your credit and then you have to wait 10 years from now to buy something. up front you have to be concerned how much you are spending. This council is not the average person. we have mostly professional up here. this council does not represent our communtity but we represent the community. the problem with doing snap shots does not show what is happening in peoples lives - lower value homes did not go down in value - if you go to the larger homes the property values have gone down in price. the people that are going to get hurt are seniors and families in smaller homes, the priority is education, police, fire then go to municipal services. roads and trash, recreation programs, seior programs. we need to take care of education first and then police and fire. the concept of we are not gong to worry about how much we spend, tell that to seniors, young families - tell it to young people who are just out of college. I want ot have discussion about the dollars that this budget is spending. Plea to back off additional projects so we can mitigate against large increase.

Snyder - process - everyone speaking but do not see anything of substance. What is the process of moving forward. Delnicki - people have the right to say what they want in this budget. we have already allowed both view points on this budet process. I am not going to stop people from talking about their feelings. When we get to the next item we will talk about amendments. Jan - so we are going to have some type sof recommendations Delnicki - the amount of calls I have received and emails - there is an uproar in this community. I have heard from people who have pulled their card to find out how much they are going to pay in taxes and there is an uproar. also hearing folks saying why are we short changing the communtiy and saying it is so bad. the people who are having a hard time are the ones being left out of the equation. i have heard from folks who are afraid to come forward.

McCann - we have had some good comments but have not focused on the numbers. With the quality of this town, this is a good town. i want to continue to live in this town but i want it to be a better town then it is today. we can not just maintain we need to improve. types of houses that suffer are the lower reduction - do not think we can talk in generalities. South Windsor is not doing badly but we want it to do better. we have osught to enhance the nontax revenues by some modest measures. we are happy to have discussions. i have not seen any alternatives put on the table. i have heard we should cut 1M, how? we need to have these discussions. lets hear the alternatives. lets get this budget done and focus on the specifics of what the budget will be.

Havens - most people are not interested in anything we are talking about. they are interested in the bottom line. additions to the budget sould be brought back tot he voters. there have been no imporvements to the town - there have been a lot done in this town. lets bring the improvements back to the voters. if you want to make improvements in town it should be brought to the taxpayers. what we can't affford this year lets look at next year. lets make a plan. any major improvements should be decided by the public.

Beaulieu - we need to focus on the general government budget. the last several years there have been small increases. we need to maintain the town and bring it forward. we have run status quo - we have had to bond roof and kitchen floors. the town is a great town however if we continue to run the town the way the budgets have done we will not move forward. if we kick the can down the road then shame on us. I don't know when it is going to get cheaper. we are looking at a large tax increase. the additional items that have been put on the table are items that have been talked about for years. money is cheaper at this time and don't understand why we would not talk about. we do need a plan and address items the best we can. if we don't do these things and go through another revaluation we are going to have property values go down further. we need to protect taxpayers. by moving forward that will help the property values.

Anwar - we need to take care of pension - the amount of dollars should come down but we should start taking care of that. should also make sure take care of personnel for police department. these items are support. the other items can be reviewed next year. the capital projects have items that should be addressed. Willing to have more conversation regarding computers. the fiber optic I am hesitant which I do not feel is a prioroty this year. funding for public works is critical. expanding the grand list the burden of the community starts to decrease. some things should get done at a certain time.

Prague - we have done everything we can for the last 6 years to keep taxes down. the magic is gone and this year we are going to have to have a substantial tax increase but it is not if you consider the last 6 years. the average business is down 11.2%. Fiber optic should be postponed. we invested a lot in education this year. hoping to have surpluses and population still down. eventually we have to say no to more stff in our schools and I am also saying we have to start salaries lower. need to meet in the middle for the budget.

Yagaloff - do generators and have them bonded out. 1.5M capital projects instead of 5M - break down into pieces. save 120,000 - strip out proposed spending increases - on the fields project can go ahead as planned. that project iwll not be paid for in this next years budget. move forward with 6320 or 501C3, revenue adjustments-keep, go back to the fund balance as planned, come back 4% tax increase, right now at 6%, 2/3rd of capital - go back to your budget and take few hundred thousand in cuts. show us what 4% increase would look like. keep capped at 4% and then make decisions off of that. right now over 6% - thik can do the field project - will support capital approach 1.5million - if that approach works then we can continue it. would be willing to support everything everyone said

Bazzano - we have addressed a lot of prioritie sin this budget. additional items put into the budget are 800,000 - what you would get for that modest amount per month you are getting a lot more. Galligan - 1.6M in cuts - garbage is 1.9M - will be looking at services Yagaloff 1.6M - 800,000 - 200,000 - look at budget with 600,000 in cuts. we have two new hires and there will be third. Galligan - did a budget for you, look at what you have done to the Town budget. Yagaloff - if you took 6.08 and put in revenue - capital bonding to - 5.08% nd another .25% 4.76% - not making any cuts drives the budget 4.75%. Galligan - you are using fund balance. I can do it. Bazzano - you mentioned bonidng but think you meant leasing. 4% Yagaloff - asking the manager to go from 4.75% ato 4%. Bazzano - the fields I do not know when it is going to happen. Yagaloff - contingency Galligan 115,000 Yagaloff - LoCIP funds - were they used for fields? Galligan - you have to find expenditure in your current budget - they are cutting the manufacturers equipment - Yagaloff - the superintendent of schools just informed us that she will not need funds from LoCIP for school safety. could use for fields Bazzano - my isue is that for the amount of monety that we are talking about you are gettign alot for your monye. Additinal items is a small cost. Delnicki - feel like I am sitting in the car dealership. we need a policy on leases. we are taliking about what normally would be bonded - i would support gong to referendum on the field - when i look at the fact when we are looking at that much money in leasing

McCann - glad to have discussion on specific items. I woul dlike to see 4% increase but that is not going to happen. we have an increase from the BOE 2.6 M - I would like to see real numbers be brought forward instead of requiring the manager to come up with numbers. 4% cap would be 1.6 million dollars in cuts. revenue projections still 1.3m in cuts - pension needs to be done. look forward to look at real numbers.

Yagaloff - may get some funds for the turf field because the plan has to be done first. high 4% if do what I ased previously. Town Manager needs to go forward and cut the budget to get to 4% increase. Galligan - 34.37 will be tax rate - 16% tax increase - Yagaloff - the goal is to mitigate the tax increase. Galligan - you have an obligation with the BOE budget. Yagaloff - send you back matt and find what you can and tell us where it is goong to hurt us- we have obligation to try to tr to mitgate budget Galligna - when your budget gets this tight you will be going back to the taxpayer for more money. Delnicki - please come up with those numbers. Bazzano - address comment about BOE budget - the reason I wanted that done is so we could concentrate on town budget. we have no intention to cut your budet. Leasing is a great alternative for the Town to use and it makes sense. Anwar - thanked the tm and staff who have worked hard to do their job at the most min. cost. like leasing for computrs - after budget we need to come up with policy regarding leases. Snyder - having gone through the budget - I thought the budget we compehensive and people being at a 0% other than public works. do not think the budvget shoudl be reduced any more. should not take money out of fund balance. this budget maintains the level of service. When I approved BOE budget I knew I would be supporting he Town budget. concerned with cuts what service will not be provided. it will take a long time Beaulieu - I have no interest in looking at ways to cut your budget. capital projects need to be done. will not support budget that uses fund balance and cuts other services - fiscally irresponsible.

Public David Joy - we were dealt a crummy hand this year - we need to move sw up a little bit. I am glad that the council decides on the budget. hope you find the right balance. should fund TM budget in full. to reduce what matt has asked for would be a disservice. Mary Sullivan, 102 Wyndemere Court - specific topic is the proposed fields - we have been given the argument that the town needs to keep up and have more desirable place for new people. should provide for people who have been here for a long time. suggest that financing for these fields. - Kevin Greer - Windshire Drive - should move forward - should keep property values high - Tc needs to do what is right

B. Proposed Amendments to the General Government Budget

7. Executive Session

8. Adjournment

Bazzano - noticed next week Monday 7 p.m. and Tuesday 8p.m Bazzzano, McCann, unanimous. 10:00 p.m.

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